<<

<

>

 

Solar Boat/Khufu Ship Museum - Historic photo of the assembly

TEXT Beneath photos

   

14.jpg

Excerpts from
Wikipdia: Khufu Ship

The Khufu ship is an intact full-size vessel that was sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid complex at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2,500 BC. It measures 143 ft. long and 19.5 ft. wide.

It was built largely of Lebanon cedar planking and has been reconstructed from 1,224 pieces which had been laid in a logical, disassembled order in the pit beside the pyramid. It took years for the boat to be painstakingly reassembled.

The history and function of the ship are not precisely known. It is of the type known as a "solar barge," a ritual vessel to carry the resurrected king with the sun god Ra across the heavens. However, it bears some signs of having been used in water, and it is possible that the
ship was either a funerary "barge" used to carry the king's embalmed body from Memphis to Giza, or even that Khufu himself used it as a "pilgrimage ship" to visit holy places and that it was then buried for him to use in the afterlife.

The Khufu ship has been on display to the public in a specially built museum at the Giza pyramid complex since 1982.